Firms work on their international brand image
By Liu Baijia (China Daily)Updated: 2006-11-03 09:12
Many Chinese firms, poised to move onto the global stage
for a bigger market and higher profit margins having already achieved success in
China, are also determined to build their own brands.
Neusoft, the biggest Chinese technology services outsourcing firm, started 15 years ago from a joint venture with Japanese partner Alpine.
It had no budget for brand-building and now has a corporate brand and cultural centre to establish brand images inside and outside the company.
It hired Interbrand in 2005 to formulate a branding strategy and changed its company logo to "Beyond Technology," trying to depict itself as a global service provider.
"I do believe the use of professional consulting firms to help make your brand strategy is very important," said Liu Jiren, chairman and CEO of Neusoft.
Samsung, a brand-building model for many Chinese firms, stresses the importance of sports marketing to take brands further afield.
The Olympic Program (TOP), the International Olympic Committee's top sports sponsorship programme since 1998, has been a key factor in Samsung's success.
In 2004, Lenovo became a TOP partner of the Olympic Games. Its brand was seen by millions of people at the Turin Winter Olympics this year and will be seen by billions more in 2008 on its home turf in Beijing.
Leveraging the existing influence of established brands is considered a shortcut for companies in China to expand into the global arena.
In the past three years, electronics maker TCL formed a joint venture with Thomson.
Lenovo acquired IBM's PC business. Haier and CNOOC tried to acquire MayTag and Unocal.
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